Worm Summary
by GreatWyrmGold
Summary: You may have heard of this thing called Worm, and also heard that it's 1.65 million words long. That's a lot, and you're not sure if you'll like it enough to commit. Herein lies a summary of that epic work, explained plainly (unlike Worm Lite, intended more for fans of Worm). Rated T for descriptions of violence and a character named Bitch.
1. Gestation Summary

Someone pointed out that in-jokes and sarcasm don't make a good summary for people who don't know anything about Worm. Somehow, I needed this pointed out to me. So, um...here's a better Worm summary for people who don't know Worm. 100% honest and simple.

Quick notes: "Cape" means "superhero or supervillain"—anyone with powers who uses them for something other than business. "Parahuman" means anyone with powers, whether hero, villain, rogue, or undecided. Also, all direct quotes from Worm are italicized.

* * *

_Gestation, Chapter One_

_Wherein Taylor is introduced and bullied_

Taylor Hebert, age 15, is in Mr. Gladly's World Issues class, a few minutes from lunch, which is an hour long, which Taylor thinks is too long. Mr. Gladly is a teacher who tries to be "cool," offering light, fun homework, ending class early, and asking people call him Mr. G. He assigns some light homework for the weekend: Think about capes and how they affect the world. No, seriously, _think about_. I promised I wouldn't make anything up this time! Now that class is over, some of the popular kids gather around Mr. G's desk to chat, one of them being Madison Clement, a popular girl who plays up the "kawaii" angle.

Taylor heads out once she can, and heads straight for the bathroom. She waits for it to clear, then hides in a stall to eat lunch. Once she finished that, she'd read or do homework, still hiding in the stall. The only book she had was a biography about the Triumvirate, the three leading members of the Protectorate; Taylor was finding it dry and possibly somewhat fictionalized, so she'd probably do homework. Not that she got the chance—Madison and her friends Emma Barnes and Sophia Hess. Emma is the leader of the group, red-headed and pretty enough to get amateur modeling jobs; Sophia is slender, athletic, and dark-skinned. All three bully Taylor frequently.

When they realize it's Taylor in the stall, she tries to escape, but discovers that the door won't open. The three of them hurl juice into the stall, covering her clothes, backpack, and so on. Eventually, the trio lets the door open so they can laugh at Taylor, which she takes stoically. The bullies leave; Taylor tries to clean her glasses, salvage what she can of her belongings, but loses it, venting her anger on small inanimate objects, including her backpack. Taylor came to the conclusion that, between her juice-soaked clothing (described as looking like a bad attempt at tie-dying) and the fact that she probably smashed the art project she was supposed to turn in, she probably couldn't finish the school day. She says she's been holding back for three months, and can't be bothered right now.

Taylor closes her eyes. Innumerable "tiny knots of intricate data" surround her, swarming closer. Taylor opens her eyes, sees creepy-crawlies of every description entering the bathroom from every opening. Taylor describes her superpower—she can control bugs, individually or in groups, finely or broadly. She contemplates using these powers to get vengeance, on Emma, Madison, and Sophia, on the other students who helped them torment her for a shot at getting their favor, the remaining students who refused to step in, the staff who wouldn't help even if Taylor asked. But she doesn't, and instead orders the swarm to disperse. Part of it was the three teams of superheroes who would intercede; a bigger part was thinking of her father's reaction; but mostly, it was her own conscience.

And the fact that Emma was her best friend, once.

* * *

_Gestation, Chapter Two_

_Wherein Taylor decides to just go for it_

Taylor can't keep Emma out of her mind as she takes the bus home. They were close friends through elementary and middle school, so close that Taylor's mother said they were practically sisters. Then, Taylor gets back from nature camp a week before high school starts, and out of the blue, Emma had switched BFFs to Sophia, and wouldn't even talk to Taylor. Every secret and vulnerability Taylor shared with Emma was turned against her...and there weren't many she'd held back.

Trying not to dwell on this, Taylor looks through her backpack. The backpack itself is basically ruined, but Taylor bought a cheap one with that in mind. All her books were soaked with grape juice, ruined, her art project destroyed. Of particular concern was one notebook, containing roughly two hundred pages of ciphered notes relating to Taylor's plans for being a superhero. Gone.

Taylor goes home, still sad but starting to feel better. As she gets ready for a shower, she tries to find a silver lining. The first thing that comes to mind is "one more reason to kill the trio," but she knows she doesn't have the killer instinct. She keeps thinking about that ruined superhero notebook...and afterwards, heads into the basement. In an old coal chute, she's hidden the more concrete results of her superhero plans, primarily a costume she made for herself out of spider silk and chitin. It was flexible, lightweight, and so durable that she had to use wire cutters and elbow grease to cut it apart when she made a mistake.

With her notebook destroyed, she felt she had an excuse to stop procrastinating and go out as a superhero. She decides to do it this weekend.

* * *

_Gestation, Chapter Three_

_Wherein Taylor meets the ABB_

The rest of Friday was spent dying and painting the costume and armor gray and black. Saturday was used to get some important temporary pieces—a belt, straps and lenses for the mask—and on Sunday, she went over her plan. It involves leaving the Boardwalk, the nice part of the Brockton Bay oceanfront, and going into the Docks, where unemployment after the collapse of Brockton Bay shipping contributed to the city's boom in supervillain activity. Brockton Bay (which is later said to have a population around 300,000) is said to probably be somewhere in the top 10 cape cities in the US (though not the top 5).

Taylor began gathering a swarm, and eventually saw a sign of activity, specifically from a few members of a gang called the Azn Bad Boys, or ABB. They're a gang composed of Asian-Americans of all kinds forcibly recruited by the gang's leaders, a couple of which have powers. Taylor specifically mentions that it speaks to the quality of the gang's leadership that they have so many distinct nationalities together without any notable friction...without mentioning what kind of quality was used. These members were gathering, she could tell, not just relaxing.

Soon, they were joined by their leader, a tall, muscular man with dragon tattoos covering his body and a dragon mask covering his face. Taylor had done research on the local capes during the planning phase, and knew this man was Lung. In case being big and strong wasn't enough, he also regenerated, and while in combat he became bigger and stronger, with armor plating covering his body, giving him claws, and some said that he eventually grew wings if he kept it up. Finally, he had pyrokinesis—the power to generate and control fire—which also got more potent the longer he stayed in combat. Taylor also describes his lieutenant, Oni Lee, a sociopath who could create doubles or teleport or something like that—reports were vague. Aside from them, Taylor didn't know of any capes in the ABB...but they're enough. Oni Lee is potent, while Lung is so powerful that he's fought teams of heroes...and won. Taylor notes that at least one of the gang members has a handgun, but reminds herself that Lung is more dangerous than all of the gang members having guns.

Taylor finds a vantage point on a roof near Lung, and listens in. It takes her a moment to adjust to the distant and Lung's unfamiliar accent, but when she does, she is disturbed. Lung is ordering his men to deal with some "children"...and the orders were "...just shoot." And _all_ of them had guns.

* * *

_Gestation, Chapter Four_

_Wherein Taylor bites off more than she can chew_

Taylor realizes several omissions from the supplies she brought—EpiPens in case she accidentally stung someone allergic to bees, a pen and notepad, her pepper spray, and some chalk dust. No cell phone, disposable or otherwise. No way to alert the proper authorities that Lung was going to kill a bunch of kids, a deed which Taylor had problem imagining _anyone_ would want done. She tried to think of other options. Probably no one would let her use her phone if she wasn't dressed in a black-and-gray costume armored with bits of bugs, nowhere would be open, and she didn't even have the change for a pay phone (if she could find one). Soon, a few more drive to the group, then they all start heading north, past Taylor—about twenty-five of them.

Taylor orders her swarm to attack. She keeps back the venomous ones, to avoid accidentally killing anyone, but the others are still quite effective. Lung began using his pyrokinesis to kill as many bugs as he can; recalling that regeneration means Lung can recover from toxins more quickly and easily than most people, Taylor sends some of her venomous bugs at him, including brown recluses, black widows, and fire ants, as quickly as she can. Already, about a quarter of Lung is armored in overlapping, triangular, metallic scales. With what she (or whoever the narrator is, but it's first person, so that way lies madness) describes as "sadistic glee," Taylor sends wasps and bees to attack Lung's face, while the crawling bugs attack his nether regions, trying to ignore the feedback those provided. Taylor tries to justify or explain the sadism by reminding herself that he was a monster, a murderer, who was going to kill kids.

I think that I'll give a direct quote for the next part: _"Lung exploded. No metaphor there. He detonated in a blast of rolling fire that set his clothes, several pieces of litter and one of his gang members alight. Almost every bug in his immediate vicinity died or was crippled by the wave of extreme heat. From my vantage point on the roof, I watched as he turned himself into a human bomb a second time. The second explosion turned his clothes to rags and sent his people fleeing for cover. He stepped out of the smoke with his hands burning like torches, the silvery scales that covered nearly a third of his body reflecting the flame."_ See, this is why wildbow writes the epics and I write the crossover fanfics.

Taylor concludes that he is either fireproof or very, very skilled at not burning himself with his own fire. Since his last rags of clothing burning off didn't bother him, it's probably the former, at least for all intents and purposes. Lung roared, a human scream of anger and frustration. People down the street were taking notice. Taylor probed Lung's defenses with more useless bugs, which Lung swiftly burns to death.

Taylor considers her options as quickly as possible. This fight would only get harder and more destructive the longer it went. She sends a wasp to sting Lung's eye, but a fireproof eyelash gets in its way and he blinks, sinking the stinger into his eyelid and provoking another explosion. She tries again with a honeybee, hoping to swell Lung's eyes shut. The sting sticks, slips, and then sticks for good in the corner of his eye, right by the nose. Lung ignited himself, wreathing himself in flame from head to toe for an extended period. Rather inconvenient that he apparently has secondary powers that stop him from hurting himself with his primary powers...

Taylor watches, hoping that the toxins took effect. She takes joy when Lung folds over at the waist...then it turns to despair as she sees his spine shift, revealing a meaty gap quickly filled by scales. Lung stands, perhaps a foot taller, with an armored spine, and completely fine. Taylor turns around slowly and quietly before putting a foot on the gravel of the roof. Lung whirls around. Apparently, another of those helpful secondary powers is super-hearing.

* * *

_Gestation, Chapter 5_

_Wherein Taylor's (mostly) literal cavalry arrive_

Lung just jumps most of the way up the building, clinging to the brick with his claw-like fingertips. Taylor looks at the fire escape, but realizes that she couldn't get down before Lung got over there, leading to Lung either jumping down to cut her off or, more likely, just roasting her. To quote wildbow again, _"The irony of the fire escape being anything but didn't escape me."_ She was stuck, and took the time it took Lung to claw his way to the roof to consider her options, her supplies. She takes out her pepper spray and hopes for the best.

Lung climbs over the side of the roof, seven or eight feet tall by now, completely covered in his triangular scales, smouldering with fire, one eye shut. On the bright side, Taylor's plan worked, a little. Taylor tries to spray Lung's open eye with the pepper spray, but misses, hitting him in the armored shoulder, where it ignites. As Lung brings a leg over the side of the roof, Taylor sprays again, more carefully, hitting his face and making him clutch his eye. Taylor realizes she has no way of hurting Lung, and so bolts for the fire escape. Lung curses at her and sends a wave of fire across the roof.

Taylor is thrown to the edge of the roof, made sure she wasn't burning anywhere. Costume fine, hair fine. Lung blasts another area of roof and curses at her, demanding she give him some clue as to where she is. Lung blinked several times. Taylor is, understandably, annoyed. Pepper spray is supposed to put someone down for half an hour, but it hadn't blinded him for much more than half a minute. _H_ow is this monster not an A-lister? He moves, flames wreathing his hands.

Taylor realizes that she isn't being burnt to death, that Lung's aiming at the roof of an adjacent building. She can't see what he's aiming at, but luckily, the target gets closer so Taylor can examine it. Again, I'll borrow wildbow's description. _"With no warning, a massive shape landed atop Lung with an impact I could swear people heard at the other end of the street. The size of a van, the 'massive object' was animal rather than vehicle, resembling a cross between a lizard and a tiger, with tangles of muscle and bone where it ought to have skin, scales or fur."_ Nice kitty? Lung hits it on the snout, causing the thing to rear back, backing away, before "rhino-charg[ing]" Lung off the roof.

As Taylor stands up, shaking, she notices two similar creatures with two riders each on the roof. Two girls, one boy, one Taylor recognizes as male only due to height, thanks to the skull-shaped motorcycle helmet and leathers which concealed his body. As his teammates watch Lung fight the first creature, the tall one dismounts and heads over to Taylor, thanking her for her help and offering to shake her hand. Taylor remains silent and refuses the hand. The tall one says that the group had been arguing all day about what to do, once they heard Lung would be coming after them. Taylor remains silent, watching one of the girls whistling, apparently ordering the other two beasts to join their brother on the ground. The tall one says they agreed to try meeting him, but instead of Lung and his gang, they ran into Oni Lee and several others, with Lung nowhere to be seen, spooking Lee, who ran. Taylor doesn't respond, even when the tall one asks if she caused Lung's absence. He asks what she did to Lung; the girl who didn't whistle answers, without taking her eyes off the fight. She mentions that he's not holding up well, and will feel worse tomorrow.

The tall one does introductions—he's Grue, the talker is Tattletale, the whistler is Bitch (though the heroes call her Hellhound for obvious reasons), and the other guy (who Grue describes as "Last and certainly least," to his irritation) is Regent. Taylor catches that Grue referred to the monsters as dogs. After introductions, Grue decides to ask why Taylor isn't talking, if she's hurt or something. Tattletale says she's just shy. Tattletale then says they have to leave; Grue offers Taylor a ride. Right before they leave, Tattletale asks Taylor her name. Taylor admits that she hasn't thought of a cape name yet.

Tattletale warns that someone from the Protectorate is coming soon, and says that if he sees two "bad guys" fighting, he won't let one escape. As the group rides off, three things occur to Taylor. These teenagers are probably the "children" Lung was going to kill, they're villains (well, not a huge revelation), and they think Taylor's a villain, too. (It's probably the costume.)

* * *

_Gestation, Chapter Six_

_Wherein Taylor meets a "hero"._

As Taylor watches the teenaged villains ride off on their monstrous dogs, she hears another cape ride up on a motorcycle. Taylor didn't want to get closer to Lung, or to be seen running, so she sat still, rested. A hero who Taylor identifies as Armsmaster uses a grappling hook in his halberd to ascend to the top of the roof. She describes the Protectorate, the government-sponsored superheroes in the US, Canada, and Mexico if they can reach an agreement with the government. It's the largest superhero organization in the world, with teams in every big cape city. Armsmaster, leader of Brockton Bay's team, isn't one of the top-tier Protectorate members, but he's pretty close. He has action figures, and shows up towards the edges of photos with all the biggest heroes in the Protectorate. Taylor notes that he even looks heroic—not a trait shared by all heroes, as we'll find out. He has blue-and-silver armor and a halberd crammed with super-science gadgets, like plasma injectors along the blade and an EMP for disabling enemy super-science gadgets.

Armsmaster asks Taylor if she's going to fight him, and Taylor quickly explains that she's "a good guy". Armsmaster points out that she doesn't look like one, which Taylor says wasn't intentional. Armsmaster stared for a moment before saying that she was telling the truth, and saying that she's a new face. Taylor says she hasn't even chosen a name, noting that good (and non-villainous) bug-themed names are rare as gold dust. Armsmaster boasts that he "got into the game" before all the good names were taken.

Awkward silence follows. Taylor blurts out that she almost died. Armsmaster brings up the Wards, a sort of Junior Protectorate, without providing any pressure. Taylor had considered joining, but feared that it would be a lot like the high school she wanted to escape. Taylor dodges the implied question by asking about Lung. Armsmaster tranquilized him and welded him under a steel cage on the sidewalk. Taylor says she's glad she accomplished something, and says she stepped in when he mentioned shooting some kids (which turned out to be supervillains). At Armsmaster's silent request, Taylor explains the whole story.

Armsmaster's first question: _"They knew I was coming?"_ Taylor nodded, and Armsmaster decides to explain what he knows about the Undersiders. _"They're slippery. On those few occasions we do manage to get in a toe to toe fight with them, they either win, or they get away more or less unscathed, or both. We know so little about them."_ Grue and Hellhound were small-time solo villains, but the others are complete nonentities. Armsmaster pinpoints Tattletale as a reason they're so successful, though Taylor's focusing more on how a hero was admitting to them not being on top of things. Taylor mentions that they didn't seem that serious; Armsmaster is surprised that they were so open with Taylor, prompting her to explain the whole "they thought I'm a villain" thing. Armsmaster points out that, since she definitely couldn't have defeated them, that's a good thing. Taylor notes this as a successful implementation of the "take a negative and turn it into a positive" thing she tried to use a few days prior.

Armsmaster then brings up the most important question...who gets to claim Lung? Armsmaster says that there are consequences for defeating a major villain like Lung—for instance, his underlings will want revenge. Oni Lee, of course, is a problem, but in case that isn't enough, Lung also recruited Bakuda recently. Bakuda is a tinker, a type of parahuman which can create super-tech (a la Iron Man), within limits or specialties varying from tinker to tinker. Bakuda is a tinker with a bomb specialty (and Taylor says that Armsmaster either is a tinker or has his gear made by one). There are two ways Taylor could deal with this: Join the Wards and enjoy their protection, or stay silent on who actually beat up Lung. It's late enough that Taylor doesn't feel prepared to make a snap decision, especially one that could potentially have Oni Lee and Bakuda on her tail, and Taylor's aware Armsmaster wants to get credit for single-handedly taking down a major supervillain (presumably he'll leave the Undersiders out of his report, too), but Taylor is aware that Armsmaster would be a bad enemy to get on her first night.

She asks that Armsmaster keep silent about her involvement; he agrees, and tells her to call him at the Protectorate headquarters in the bay if she ever needs help. He owes Taylor one. Taylor prepares for the half-hour trek home, reminds herself that her father is probably asleep, and focuses on how much worse it could have gone.

* * *

_Interlude 1, Danny Hebert_

_Wherein a father worries_

Danny Hebert is watching a documentary about the history of parahumanity. It started in May 1982, when an ocean liner came across a floating golden man who cured one of the passenger's cancer. This man became known as Scion after someone asked his name—the only time he's ever spoken. Scion continued appearing around the world, solving problems of various kinds (including what is implied to be Hurricane Katrina and what might be 9/11) with almost god-like powers, inspiring an almost religious awe in many. Scion was nude, but eventually donned a sheet and then a white body suit; no one knows where he got them, or why he put them on. Five years after his first appearance, other parahumans revealed themselves as superheroes, using their powers like Scion did, to benefit the world. Villains followed, but it was the heroes who shattered parahuman illusions of divinity, when a hero called Vikare died from injuries sustained while trying to quell a riot over a basketball game. The documentary says that governments took a firmer hand towards parahumans, and then cuts off as Danny gets up and paces.

It was 3:15 AM, and Taylor wasn't home. A little past midnight, he felt a disturbance in the house from the back door closing. He checked his daughter's room, and she wasn't there. Danny wanted to ask his wife for advice, for support, but he knew she couldn't help. She hadn't been there for a while. Danny banished the thought, wishing for a moment that he had gotten Taylor a cell phone even though he knew why he hadn't.

He wondered where Taylor could have gone. She wasn't the type to go to parties. There were two possibilities. Taylor liked to go running; Danny knew it helped her work through her problems, but wished she didn't have to do it in their neighborhood. A skinny teenage girl would be too easy a target...and if she left around midnight and wasn't back after three, something happened, a mugging or...worse. The second possibility was barely better: That bullies had lured Taylor out somehow, for some nefarious reason.

Danny knew Taylor was being bullied, after she was sent to the hospital's psychiatric ward over it in January. Under the influence of the drugs they put her on, she admitted to being bullied, by a they, not a he or she. Taylor wouldn't mention it since; if Danny tried to bring it up, she just withdrew. He wanted to let her reveal the details in her own time, but it was April now, and nothing. Still, all he knew about was the incident which sent her to the hospital—a grotesque one—and that more was almost certainly still going on. The bullying was so bad that even Emma, Taylor's best friend, stopped spending time with her.

Danny felt completely helpless. He threatened to sue the school board; they settled out of court, the board paying the hospital bills and promising to _"look out for her to prevent such events from occurring in the future,"_ a promise which failed to ease Danny's concerns. He tried to put Taylor in another school, but regulations on how far a child could go for school limited her to Winslow, her current school, and Arcadia, already overcrowded, with a waiting list hundreds long. And Danny was still helpless, in this moment. He tried calling the police department about an hour prior, and the officer on the other end said that, without more to go on, there was nothing they could do. If Taylor hadn't returned after twelve hours, they said, he should call again. All Danny could do until then was wait, pray, and hope he wouldn't get a call from the police or another hospital, telling him where Taylor was.

A slight vibration ran through the house, signifying warm air inside escaping outside, followed by a whoosh as the door closed again. Danny was conflicted. Was she hurting or hurt? Would his presence make things worse, her father seeing her at her most vulnerable? Taylor had all but told him that she didn't want that. He was worried that, if the issues from bullying came up at home, it wouldn't feel like a refuge from the bullies.

Danny heard a door open and close, and again a few minutes later, probably the bathroom. It couldn't be a closet, or she wouldn't have done it again, and why would she be going into the basement at this hour? Something banged on the kitchen counter, and then the only sound was the grown of floorboards. Five or ten minutes later, she ascended the stairs. Danny considered clearing his throat, letting Taylor know he was awake if she needed him, but decided not to, admitting to himself that he was being cowardly.

Her door shut, almost silently. Danny stood, entered the hall, and almost crossed it to knock on her door, before smelling jam and toast. He couldn't imagine that Taylor would come back from being mugged, tormented, or worse, and immediately made herself a snack of jam on toast. Danny returned to his room and began turning his relief into anger—at Taylor, at her bullies, at the school and the city, and most of all at himself. He hadn't gotten any answers, solved any problems, or protected his daughter, and he couldn't help but fear this had happened in the past and he slept through it. He had to stop himself from going into Taylor's room and demanding answers. It would do more harm than good.

Danny's father was a powerful man, who passed nothing but anger issues onto his son. Danny long ago vowed never to lose his temper at his family, hoping to avoid passing it onto his children, but had managed to lose it near Taylor three times. The first was when she came to his office on the promise that they would go out that afternoon, on a day when he flew off the handle at a mayor's aide saying that (contrary to promises) projects to renovate the Docks would be cancelled, and more layoffs would replace new jobs. The second was the only time he broke his vow, the last time he saw Annette. Taylor hadn't seen that, but she had surely heard some of it. Finally, last January, when he and Taylor were at the hospital, he screamed at the principal (who probably deserved it) and one of Taylor's teachers (who probably didn't). A nurse threatened to call for a police officer, so Danny stormed into Taylor's room, discovering her conscious and wide-eyed. Danny worried that the reason Taylor had told him so little about the bullying was that she was afraid he'd do something stupid in a blind rage.

Danny finally calmed down, told himself he'd ask for answers in the morning. He went to sleep and dreamed of the ocean.

* * *

I recommend you read the actual story, at least in chapters like the Lung fight, if only for the vivid description.

Also, don't worry—there won't be a quiz. Might not hurt to take notes anyways...


	2. Insinuation Summary

_Insinuation, Chapter One_

_Wherein Taylor and her father talk._

Taylor wakes up. It's 6:28, roughly when she gets up on a normal day...but this is anything but, since just a few hours ago she aided in the capture of the single most dangerous supervillain in the city. Then she came home and slept for some of those three hours, before waking up and acting as a self-described slave to routine.

Taylor and her father prepare breakfast while chatting. She mentions to him that she didn't sleep well; he suggests that she doesn't have to run today. Taylor doesn't agree. They continue chatting; some bits of exposition are dropped. Taylor's father works for the Dockworker's Association, as a union spokesperson and head of hiring; the latter has the unspoken subtitle of "when the economy picks up, we don't have any positions open right now". He mentions a man named Gerry who was one of those people who kept not being hired, and decided to seek work elsewhere...with Leet and Uber, a pair of incompetent barely-B-list villains with a video game theme.

The conversation dies a couple sentences later, and Taylor's father brings up that she came in late last night. Taylor says that she couldn't sleep, and decided to take a walk outside. She notes that, technically, this isn't a lie, and that she has had nights like that before. Her father points out that they don't live in a safe neighborhood; Taylor responds that she had the pepper spray (also the truth), but her father asks what she could do if caught off-guard, or if the other person had a knife or a firearm. The irony of Taylor's father worrying about that when she faced much worse the previous night is not lost on Taylor. Her father asks why she can't sleep; she just says that it has to do with school and not having any friends.

Taylor's father forbids her to go out at night any more and threatens to put a bell on the door; she knows he would, and promises to do so, secretly deciding to do so quieter. Taylor finishes her breakfast and leaves; her father notices that her hair is burnt and asks if she's been smoking. Taylor assures him she hasn't, and suggests it might be burned due to the stove.

* * *

_Insinuation, Chapter Two_

_Wherein Taylor researches the villains from the prior night_

Taylor worried about school, since she had missed half the day and failed to turn in a major assignment. She seriously considers skipping her first class, one of the few she likes, just to avoid risking the humiliation someone from the office coming to get her. She decides against it, and goes to her computer class. Emma, Madison, and Sophia are all absent, and their friends are in the computer-illiterate three-quarters of the class, whereas Taylor was in the advanced section learning basic programming and spreadsheets. The advanced students were usually given an assignment while Mrs. Knott supervised the more unruly, less nerdy kids. Taylor usually finished the assignment in half an hour, leaving her an hour to do other things.

Today, she got a head start on other things before worrying about the assignment. She visits Parahumans Online, which is a fansite for all superheroes, supervillains, and other "capes" (parahumans who actively use their powers for interesting things, as opposed to "rogues" who use them for business or entertainment). It's part Google News, part Wikipedia, part forum, and all focused on the superhumans who terrorize and save the Earth. Taylor's search started with the wiki.

She searched for Tattletale and got just about zip. Her article was a one-sentence stub with a blurry picture that told Taylor her costume was lavender. Next was Grue, who had more information; he'd been a small-time independent villain for three years before getting a team and moving on to bigger crimes, including corporate theft and robbing a casino. He, too, had a picture—and a clear one—but Grue himself was a blurry black silhouette surrounded by darkness. No results for Bitch (apparently, PHO keeps things PG-13-ish) Hellhound, on the other hand, had an even more extensive article than Grue. Hellhound, real name Rachel Lindt, never tried to conceal her identity. Her powers manifested at age fourteen, and were followed by the destruction of her foster home. She was homeless after that (unsurprisingly) and for the remainder of her criminal career, which began with a two-year skirmish across Maine as she evaded capture. Reports of the homeless girl stopped roughly a year prior to the present day; Taylor guesses she joined the Undersiders around this time. Taylor also discovered that she had at least two fan sites and plenty of notoriety; she also confirmed that the monsters she saw the prior night were made from dogs. Her wiki entry also warned that, quote, "Rachel Lindt has a public identity, but is known to be particularly hostile, antisocial and violent." Finally, Taylor searched for Regent, and got no article—not even a stub, nor an article under a similar name that she might have misheard.

Taylor quickly did the assignment—a calculator, which the previous two classes had equipped her to do with ease—and searched for information on Lung and the ABB. She confirmed his powers, and noted that the wiki didn't mention him being fireproof or possessing super-hearing. She considered adding those notes, before deciding that they would be removed as speculation and might start a trail of clues connecting the bug-girl at the docks to Taylor Hebert. The wiki listed him as having forty to fifty gang members across Brockton Bay, and the gang was growing. At first he was just taking over pre-existing gangs, but now he was recruiting any Asians in the area between the ages of twelve and sixty.

The wiki also gave information on his lieutenants, Oni Lee and Bakuda. The former had a red box, like Hellhound's but without the note about a public identity. Taylor noticed new edits, which clarified his power as a combination of teleportation and duplication: Oni Lee teleports away, and leaves a duplicate behind for five to ten seconds; said duplicate fights, even able to (say) detonate a grenade and act as a suicide bomber—and since there was no apparent limit on how quickly he could use his power, he could have multiple simultaneous suicide bombers. With the same grenade. And on that note, let's look at what Taylor learned about Bakuda, whose power lets her create advanced bombs. Sadly, the wiki had little that Armsmaster hadn't told her, although it did link to a video about her bomb threat at Cornell (which Taylor wisely declined to watch at school).

Scrolling down, Taylor got to a list of defeats and captures. Lung had won many fights, but not all; he suffered minor defeats at the hands of both local heroes like the Protectorate, Wards, and New Wave and more distant ones like the Guild, but it mentioned that Armsmaster had captured Lung, and that he would be held for a teleconfrence trial, likely to end in his imprisonment at a place called the Birdcage. Taylor then went to the PHO message board to see what they thought about it; someone (presumably a minion or fan of Lung) threatening violence against Armsmaster, someone else asking for more information on the fight, someone wondering if Bakuda would use a large-scale bomb threat to ransom Lung, which Taylor tried not to worry about; more experienced heroes would handle that.

Taylor then searched for anything on the message boards which might relate to her. She found two posts. One was referring to a UK villain named Pestilence, who believes that his superpowers are actually magic (and he's not the only cape to believe such). The second was in the "Connections" section of the board, which is where everything from rescuees contacting rescuers to fans organizing conventions. Many of the posts there are cryptic or vague, and this was no exception.

Subject: Bug  
Owe you one. Would like to repay the favor. Meet?  
Send a message,  
Tt.

Two pages of comments followed this message, three people thought it was important arguing with half a dozen who thought they were crazy. Taylor knew which group was right.

* * *

_Insinuation, Chapter Three_

_Wherein Taylor's day goes downhill._

The class bell rang shortly after Taylor read her message, and she hurried through logging off and shutting the computer down. She realized she still hadn't faced the music for skipping class, and went to Mr. Gladly's World Issues class, where her normal seat had been covered in orange juice by Madison. Remember her? One of her bullies, from before Taylor (contributed to a group effort which) beat up Lung? Mr. Gladly waited a few minutes after the typical class-starts-now time and broke the class into groups, to combine what they thought about over the weekend into a presentation. Taylor hated group assignments, because unlike most people, she didn't have a group of friends that she liked working with.

Instead, she got put with two other friendless outcasts. Sparky was a drummer in a band, detached from reality to the point of almost sleepwalking through life. Greg was, like Taylor, a nerd, but where Taylor was quiet and introverted, Greg lacked a filter between his brain and his mouth, and...in Wildbow's words, "his train of thought didn't have any brakes. Or tracks. It would have been easier [for Taylor] to be in a group with just Sparky and essentially do the work by [her]self than it would be to work with Greg." Taylor got out her contribution, which included a comprehensive list of ways capes affected society, plus newspaper and magazine clippings supporting her point. This was all her group had—Greg got distracted over the weekend playing a video game, and Sparky was Sparky.

Julia, one of Madison's friends, came into class late and was sent to Taylor's group, since it had only three people. Madison and her group moved over by Julia, Greg kept trying to join their conversation (unsuccessfully, since he was a nerdy outcast), and Sparky was still Sparky. Taylor tried to involve Greg in the actual assignment by showing him her work; he read through it, complimented it, and handed it to Julia when asked. In a twist that surprised no one except Greg (I imagine even Sparky saw this one coming), Julia gave Taylor's work to Madison, and both Julia and Madison refused to acknowledge having taken anything when Taylor asked and that Taylor existed, respectively. Taylor tried to galvanize the group into putting something together, but Greg spent most of the time apologizing and trying to convince Madison and friends to return the work while Sparky...well...was Sparky. And Greg was chosen to give their group's presentation.

Greg, being Greg (and also without much to go on), botched the presentation up until Mr. Gladly told him to sit down. Madison, on the other hand, gave a well-composed presentation with Taylor's excellent information (albeit mangling a couple points). Another group was deemed the winner through sheer quantity, but Mr. Gladly complimented Madison's group. Mr. Gladly moved on to his lecture; Taylor took a page out of Sparky's book, partly from exhaustion and sleep deprivation, partly from fury, and partly to keep her power under control. The class passed, and Mr. Gladly asked to speak with Taylor.

Mr. Gladly states that he knows that Taylor's been bullied. He points to the orange juice in her seat, an incident a few weeks prior where glue was smeared on her desk and chair, and another at the beginning of the year. It isn't elaborated on, but Taylor's reaction and the fact that all of her teachers had a meeting on it indicates that it was pretty severe. Mr. Gladly correctly guesses that there was more he didn't know about. Mr. Gladly offers to take her to the principal's office so she can explain it; when asked for details, he says that the bullies she named would be brought to the office as well, and if there was proof of their wrongdoing, they would be suspended for several days; further offenses could lead to longer suspensions or expulsions. Taylor is unimpressed, pointing out that the punishment is minor, uncertain, and that regardless of if it happened or not, it would provoke retaliation. She refers to it as shooting herself in the foot, then leaves, running into Emma, Madison, Sophia, and half a dozen other girls.

* * *

_Insinuation, Chapter Four_

_Wherein Taylor is mocked and crushed_

The girls get straight to work, literally backing her into a corner while throwing a wide variety of coordinated insults of varying maturity, comprehensibility, and consistency. One even says she'd kill herself if she was Taylor, right as Mr. Gladly walks past. Taylor regrets for a moment that the group was girls, not guys. Guys would (usually) react to violence in kind, leading to Taylor getting beaten up but a decent investigation into the matter, and even if things didn't stop for good, Taylor would at least have some satisfaction. Girls, on the other hand, usually played dirtier; if Taylor punched one Emma, she would go to the principal, Taylor would come out looking like a psycho, and kids which had left Taylor alone would join Emma in her "vengeance".

When Taylor thinks the group is losing steam, Emma brings out the big guns: She suggests that Taylor will be crying herself to sleep for a week, subtly reminding her of her mother's death. It had hit Taylor hard and her father worse; he didn't even make dinner for a few days, until Emma's mother (this was back when Emma and Taylor were still friends) forced him to put his life together. A month later, Emma remarked to Taylor that she was really resilient; Taylor admitted that she's just faking it, and that she cried herself to sleep for a week. Taylor had started crying at that point; Emma had given her a kind shoulder to cry on.

Present-Taylor starts crying at this point; Present-Emma laughs at her, and her friends mock Taylor. Taylor had taken her backpack off to lean against the wall, and reached for it, only to have it pulled away by Sophia's foot. Taylor gave up, forced her way through the girls, and fled the school.

* * *

_Insinuation, Chapter Five_

_Wherein Taylor makes a plan_

Taylor obviously had no intention of lingering near the school. She couldn't go home, either; her father worked unreliable hours, so there was every chance that she would be discovered skipping school by her father. The Boardwalks were a frequent destination on her runs, and close to the Docks, where Taylor had bad memories and worse enemies. She decided to go downtown. Trying not to dwell on Emma and the other bullies, she instead thought about Tattletale, the message she left Taylor, and the Undersiders in general. They were definitely an enigma. Grue and Hellhound were marginally successful small-time villains who didn't operate in Brockton Bay before joining the Undersiders and pulling off high-profile crimes, while Regent and Tattletale were complete unknowns. It could be that one of the latter united the group, but Taylor remembered Grue teasing Regent more than treating him like a leader, and Tattletale didn't seem like a likely uniting factor. She also remembered them saying that they fought for a while over their plans—it didn't sound like they had much leadership.

Taylor considers her options for lunch—hers had been in her backpack. She briefly considered using the favor the Undersiders owed her to buy her lunch (not seriously); this got her thinking about Tattletale's offer to meet up. She realized that if she went, she could fish for information and bring it to the heroes. They'd probably see it as a betrayal...but when she came out as a hero, that was basically inevitable. She decided to head for the library, and waited for a public computer with a bit of privacy to open up. She sent an anonymous message to "Tt," saying she'd like to meet but wanted proof of identity. It was only a couple sentences, but she spent a lot of time looking it over, making sure it didn't say more or less than she wanted to. A couple minutes later, she got a response, much longer. Tt mentioned a few of the events of the prior night in a way which wouldn't look suspicious to the administrative staff or anyone reading over Taylor's shoulder, and offers to meet with her, bringing "G" and "R" along. She says Taylor doesn't "have to get gussied up if you catch my drift". She asks if meeting at three would give enough time to get to the meeting place from the library. Yes, she knows Taylor's at the library.

Taylor gave the matter a lot of thought, to the point that the screen saver turned on. She might be able to get even more information that she had wagered, with this chance to see most of the Undersiders out of costume. But revealing all of that information, when they someone who could figure out Taylor's location so easily...worrisome. But if she didn't, she'd have to return to the status quo, minus two afternoons of school. She agreed to the meeting.

* * *

_Insinuation, Chapter Six_

_Wherein Taylor meets the villains_

Taylor decided to show up in costume; it would provide protection not only for her identity, but for her skin. She removed the armor and put a loose sweatshirt and jeans over it, but still felt conspicuous. She brought her mask and an old backpack; when she reached the meeting place, she put the outer clothes into the bag and the mask on her face. She sent out some flies to scout ahead, mentioning that bugs sense things differently than people, worse when you consider the different speed they process their senses; the result was that most of their senses were almost useless to Taylor, and she mostly used them to sense things through touch, exploiting her power's inherent sense of where all the bugs are. The bugs' sight was blurry, but enough for Taylor to identify three figures; a bit of touch confirms that they aren't wearing masks. Climbing up, she identified the trio as almost certainly Tattletale, Grue, and Regent in civilian clothes.

Tattletale tells Regent to pay up. Apparently, they bet on if Taylor would show up in costume, and Tattletale won. Grue says that it's Regent's fault; it was a dumb bet, "even if it wasn't Tattle". Grue, Tattletale, and Regent introduce themselves as Brian, Lisa, and Alec; Regent says that Bitch (a.k.a. Hellhound) was Rachel, but Taylor already knew that. Grue says she's sitting this meeting out because she doesn't agree with their purpose, which Taylor takes as an ideal time to ask what that purpose is, why they came without costumes. Grue says that it's a show of trust.

Lisa hands Taylor a plastic Alexandria lunchbox (Taylor mentions that she was her favorite member of the Protectorate as a kid), filled with two thousand dollars in cash. Lisa says that it can be a gift, repayment for saving them from Lung and an incentive to "count us among your friends when you're out in costume and doing dastardly deeds"...or her first monthly payment as a member of the Undersiders. Brian clarifies that the two grand each per month is just what their "boss" pays for the group staying together—they make considerably more than that. Taylor quickly determines that Bitch didn't want her on the team, though the other three did. Apparently, this isn't the first time the Undersiders tried to recruit a new member, or the first time Bitch voted against it. They tried recruiting someone named Spitfire, but didn't even get to the job offer before Bitch scared her off; Spitfire was recruited by someone named Faultline. They also tried recruiting a villain named Circus, who declined because she works alone.

Why recruit Taylor? In Brian's words, "...there's bound to be some pushing and shoving over territory and status among the various gangs and teams. Us, Faultline's Crew, the remaining ABB, Empire Eighty-Eight, the solo villains, and any out of town teams or gangs that figure that they can worm in and grab a piece of the Bay...We haven't screwed up a job yet, but the way us three figure it, it's only a matter of time before we end up stuck in a fight we can't win." Taylor points out that she only has bugs; Lisa point out that she defeated Lung. Taylor argues that she would have died if they hadn't saved her; Lisa counters that for a solo cape fighting Lung, that's pretty good. She also drops that Lung is in the hospital.

Taylor is shocked—she thought that Lung being a big guy and a regenerator to boot, he'd be safe from all the deadly venom she pumped into his system. In case the volume wasn't enough, the doctor checking him over recognized the bug bites and stings but pronounced him fine for a few hours because the really venomous bugs don't bite more than once. Taylor says that toxins aren't supposed to even be one percent as effective against those who regenerate like Lung does, but apparently, something stopped his regeneration, or the toxins she injected were a hundred times more potent or numerous than she had realized. Lung had large-scale tissue damage, and his heart stopped a few times. Oh, and one of the major areas Ling lost tissue...well, Taylor was going for the weak spots, and her brown recluses bit the lowest weak spot available. Lung's recuperating, although it'll take six months to a year before he's fully recovered. And he's almost certainly going to want revenge.

Taylor asks how they know this, and how Tattletale knew she was in the library (which Brian apparently didn't know Lisa knew or told Taylor). Lisa says that a girl has to have her secrets; Alec says she's half the reason they haven't failed a job, with their boss being a lot of the rest. Lisa says that the rest comes on a need-to-know basis, only available to members. Taylor decides to join. In her words, "It wasn't like I was signing the deal in blood or anything."

* * *

_Insinuation, Chapter Seven_

_Wherein Taylor visits the Undersiders' lair_

There is much rejoicing. The Undersiders decide to take Taylor to their base, and note that she'd stand out in costume. She gets a little privacy to change into the sweatshirt and jeans, then feels a pang of very adolescent concern over what the Undersiders would think of her non-costumed self. "Brian and Alec were good looking guys, in very different ways. Lisa was, on the sliding scale between plain and pretty, more pretty than not. My own scale of attractiveness, by contrast, put me somewhere on a scale that ranged from 'nerd' to 'plain'." Taylor decides to tell the Undersiders her real name—it could save her if she ran into someone she happened to know while with the Undersiders.

They walked through some very, very unmaintained, poverty-stricken parts of the Docks. The Undersiders' base was once a factory, but had apparently been out of use for some time. The factory floor was abandoned, filled with the rusted remnants of the machinery. The Undersiders other than Taylor ignored that area, instead heading upstairs to a loft converted into a living area, complete with an improvised kitchen, some sorta-kinda-bedrooms, and an actually quite comprehensive and impressive entertainment system. The Undersiders confirm that it's Taylor's space as much as theirs, and offer to clear out their storage room so she has a place at the loft. Taylor tries to protest that she doesn't need one, but they say it's as much for them as her. Brian has an apartment and didn't want a room there, and it's caused problems. One problem mentioned was losing an eight hundred dollar white couch when he bled on it from wounds inflicted by one Shadow Stalker, who Alec and the others do not approve of.

Brian checks for Rachel and says that both she and her dogs are gone; he mentions that this always worries him. He starts describing the duties and rewards of being an Undersider to Taylor. The pay is good—two grand a month, ten to thirty-five grand split five ways for a typical job. He asks Taylor how on top of things she is with knowing capes, and mentions that some people (Alec) don't take it seriously and some (Lisa) act like they know it all. Lisa protests that she does, in fact, know it all thanks to her power; Taylor takes this at face value and freaks out inside, before Lisa admits that her power only tells her some of it all—it works a little like super-intuition, best with concrete stuff. She's also good with computers, partly because her power lets her guess passwords; she uses the Protectorate HQ security cameras as a combination of reality TV and educational programming. Taylor asks about the powers Brian and Alec have, but is interrupted by three dogs attacking her.

* * *

_Insinuation, Chapter Eight_

_Wherein Taylor meets the last Undersider_

Brian demands that Rachel call off her dogs; she doesn't comply. Taylor cries out in fear and pain; a second or two later, Rachel complies and the dogs retreat. Taylor notes that Brian punched Rachel hard enough to knock her to the ground and give her a bloody nose. Brian makes it clear that he didn't like having to hit her. Taylor asks why Rachel sicced her dogs on her; she doesn't respond, which angers Taylor more. She reflexively tries to justify inaction and fails, and as I put it so eloquently in Worm Lite, begins "retaliating the _crap_ out of [Rachel]." Brian uses his darkness to break up the fight. Taylor's had enough and leaves, cut off by a large cloud of Brian's darkness. It's described as being smoke-like, but with an oily, inconsistent texture, and absorbing sounds to boot. Taylot orients herself with her bugs and heads out the door. Brian catches up before she gets far, and apologizes for both using his power on her and for Rachel's conduct. He says that if it were up to him, he'd kick Rachel out and keep Taylor, but their boss wouldn't like that. Brian asks for a second chance; Taylor allows it.

* * *

_Insinuation, Chapter Nine_

_Wherein Taylor hangs out at the Undersiders' lair_

The Undersiders know basic first aid, so they patch up Taylor's (and Rachel's) wounds. Alec compliments Taylor on how well she beat up Rachel; she doesn't appreciate it as much as he probably thinks she should. Taylor asks what Alec's power does; he demonstrates on Brian, who thankfully isn't doing anything delicate since his power is (as Lisa explains while Brian retaliates) to disrupt people's nervous systems, making their extremities twitch. Taylor confirms the others' powers (learning that Brian's darkness also stops radiation, radio waves, and the like) and learns that the Undersiders have a strict "codenames in costume, birth names out of costume" rule. Brian also says that he edited his own PHO wiki page, labeling his power as simply "darkness generation". Taylor wants to go home, but the Undersiders convince her to stick around and just call her father, who was unsurprisingly worried about her daughter. Taylor assures him that nothing's wrong, and that she's just made some friends. She claims that they seem like good people.

* * *

_Interlude 2, Victoria Dallon/Glory Girl_

_Wherein a white supremacist is interrogated_

Victoria Dallon flies through the air with the greatest of ease, due to having the superpower to fly, as well as a force field that protects her from everything from bullets being shot at her to bugs splattering against her. She does a carefully-practiced landing in front of her target, and flies after him when he runs. She accuses the man of attacking an African-American college student. Victoria threatens to break his limbs to get him to talk, telling her everything she wants to know about a group called Empire Eighty-Eight. She tries to use another of her powers—an awe-inspiring aura—to help, but it just scares him enough to make him even more stubborn. She throws him, and briefly worries that she broke something, before he gets up. She asks if he's ready to talk yet; he isn't. Insulted, she throws a dumpster at him; he goes down and doesn't get up again. Whoops.

Victoria checks his pulse before calling her sister, Amy. She takes five minutes to arrive, and isn't amused. Apparently, this has happened before (this is the sixth time Amy knows of). Luckily, Amy is a healer, but she's considering not healing this guy so Victoria has to face the consequences of her actions for once. Victoria argues that it would be going way too far, screwing with Victoria more than is needed and screwing with their family to boot; Amy counters that this kind of behavior, with or without healing, is exactly why people are afraid of independent heroes like the New Wave, points out that she (Amy) is adopted, and asks Victoria to stop trying to use her awe-aura (awra?) power on her. As the guy complains of pain and cold, Amy agrees to heal him...but this is the last time. Amy checks on the man, and gives Victoria a description of how the student he beat up is. Physically great, but Amy says she can't affect brains. Technically won't, as Victoria points out; Victoria thinks that by not trying, she's going to risk big problems if she ever has to.

With Amy's permission, Victoria begins interrogating the skinhead. He curses at her again and threatens to sue; Victoria points out that her mother is one of the best lawyers in the city. Victoria offers a deal: Either get healed and give up the desired details, or Amy doesn't help. Amy adds erectile dysfunction to the list of medical issues. That's enough to convince him to tell Victoria everything. Empire Eighty-Eight is expanding into the docks, he says, because the ABB is weak and some guy called Coil with a private army of ex-military mercenaries (it is not made clear if he is using "ex-military" in the colloquial or formal sense, but only taking soldiers who were kicked out of the army sounds pretty supervillainous) with top-of-the-line, even futuristic gear. But back to the docks, it's not just E88 that will be making a move on the docks—it's every gang, every villain, even some out-of-towners who want a shot at some of the most potentially lucrative in Brockton Bay. Either there will be war, or there will be an alliance formed among the gangs, and it's hard to say which would be worse.

Victoria asks Amy if she's done; she's handled everything that could get Victoria in trouble, but says she hasn't finished everything yet. The patient complains, and Victoria points out some of the nasty stuff Amy could do with her power, ranging from giving him various types of new injuries to changing the color of his skin. Victoria claims she isn't half as scary as Amy, and they leave. Amy makes Victoria promise to be more careful—dead is something she actually can't fix, not just won't. Victoria promises to be good, and calls emergency services. She checks with Amy on the skinhead's status; he's numb and won't get up any time soon, but otherwise fine. She also lied about the erectile dysfunction, and didn't screw with anything that way, so nothing but fear and doubt will interfere with his love life. Victoria jokingly points out that Amy said she wouldn't mess with peoples' heads. Hopefully, she won't do it again.


End file.
